


Rosetta

by Jevil_Joss



Category: RWBY
Genre: Canon Typical Violence, Parallel Universes, dark backstory, vengeance and retribution
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-28
Updated: 2020-01-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:47:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22411978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jevil_Joss/pseuds/Jevil_Joss
Summary: Sylvia has spent thirty years hunting Rosetta. She's not about to give up now.
Kudos: 1





	Rosetta

**Author's Note:**

> This work is set in the multiverse of "Trapped" and "Beneath the Mask". "Trapped" contains more information on Sylvia and Rosetta, but this work is a standalone.

Team RWBY had just finished dinner at their restaurant when the explosions started. The four young women rushed outside, blinking as flashes of red and white lit up the road. Two people were having a very fast paced battle. 

"Oh, no," Ruby said quietly. A bolt of white light shot over her head, hitting the wall and sending shards of wood and stone into the air. 

Weiss narrowed her eyes, trying to get a look at the combatants. One used a sword, the other a guandao. Both wore cloaks, though the one with the guandao had a hood, whereas her opponent just had a cloak fastened around her neck. 

But they were moving too fast for Weiss to get any better knowledge of them. "Gods, they're fast," she breathed, watching the swords clang. One of their school lockers landed beside her, and Yang pulled out her gauntlets. "Come on!" the brawler cried. 

"Yang, we don't know who's who!" Weiss scolded. "Either of them could be the bad guy, or both of them could!"

"Stop!" Ruby cried. 

"That's not going to..." Weiss stopped, as did both of the combatants. "...work?"

"What?" the woman with the sword asked. Her skin was deathly pale, but her face had several glowing red scars along the cheeks. Her eyes were bright, vivid red, and her clothing consisted of a tank top and scuffed jeans. "We're in the middle of a nemesis battle, here."

"Who are you two? What are you doing? Why are you wrecking everything?" Ruby cried. 

"Wait..." Yang turned to the other fighter. This woman looked almost exactly like Ruby, down to the silver eyes. Her hair, however, was white and black, instead of red and black. She wore long black pants, and a nondescript gray shirt. She was puffing, her face flushed. Yang realized that while the two had appeared evenly matched, the one with the sword was clearly at the advantage at the moment, as she didn't even appear hurt. The woman with the guandao, meanwhile, had numerous small cuts, and several patches of blood coated her clothing. Her clothing, meanwhile, was suspiciously undamaged. 

"Gods, she looks like Ruby," Blake said quietly. 

The woman struggled to point her weapon at her opponent, then staggered, forced to use it as a crutch. 

"Oh." The woman with the scars and the sword grimaced, sheathing her sword. "Didn't realize how hurt you were. Sorry, my head isn't in the--" She quickly twisted her head aside, avoiding a silver projectile fired from the guandao. "Jeez, Sylvia. Learn to live a little." 

The other woman, evidently Sylvia, glared at her. "I...am not...finished...yet..."

The scarred woman shook her head, almost sadly. Quickly drawing her sword, she slashed it through the air. A red portal opened, and she stepped through it and disappeared. 

Yang rubbed her eyes. "What? Where'd she go?"

Weiss turned to Sylvia. "Are you going to explain this?"

Sylvia slashed her guandao through the air, opening a white portal. Without a word, she stepped through it and vanished. 

The universe Sylvia hopped to was almost exactly the same as the one she'd left. The city layout was practically the same, most of the history would probably be the same. The travel was harder than usual--mostly because of her injuries. As she stepped out of the portal into what the locals called the Emerald Forest. A Beowulf crept close, the Grimm snarling at her. She ignored it, walking past it. The Grimm backed away. She wasn't sure what it was about her that made the Grimm creatures in most worlds ignore her. Perhaps it was the fact that she could travel between dimensions that threw them off.

She entered the city of Vale, walking through the streets. Most people gave her space--she assumed it was the combo of bloodstains and the massive bladed weapon strapped across her back. People cleared out of the way for her, and she quickly reached her apartment complex. Which was good, as her leg was hurting. 

Her enhanced healing normally would have helped her. But not against Rosetta. Any wound made by Rosetta's sword wouldn't heal. For a normal person, like most of the people on the streets, the wounds wouldn't ever heal. They'd slowly bleed to death. But Sylvia's 'super healing'--as several people had described it--helped counteract Rosetta's anti-healing. 

So she'd be fine by nightfall. If she didn't die. 

Sylvia lay down on her bed, after changing into something more comfortable. She closed her eyes. 

Tomorrow, back to hunting Rosetta. 

Sylvia next found Rosetta sitting on a bench, in the middle of the open. People passed on by, most ignoring the scarred woman in front of them. Rosetta looked up at Sylvia, and smiled. _Damn that smile,_ Sylvia thought with annoyance. 

"Here to fight me again?" Rosetta asked casually. The same tone one would use to talk about the weather. Rosetta was immortal--every time her body died, she reincarnated a day later, in a body exactly the same, in a nearby dimension. 

So, realistically, there was no point to fighting her. No point other than to prove that she could. To prove that she could take down Rosetta--this psychotic monster. Sylvia pulled out her guandao and rushed Rosetta. Rosetta flipped over the bench, watching the blade smash through the wood. Rosetta sidestepped Sylvia's next few swings, easily. With a fancy twirl, she evaded a slash, stepped back, and drew her sword. Sylvia parried the first blow, then swung for Rosetta. Rosetta stepped aside, then stabbed for Sylvia. Cursing, Sylvia spun her guandao around, the hilt knocking Rosetta's blade aside. Rosetta showed no signs of being knocked off balance, however, and rushed Sylvia. Several more slashes, each one clanging against Sylvia's weapon as she blocked. Sylvia was forced into the defensive, all of her concentration going into blocking Rosetta's attacks. She managed to get off one attack, spinning her blade towards Rosetta and firing off a bullet, but Rosetta blocked the blade and dodged the bullet. The immortal shoved Sylvia's weapon back, then stabbed Sylvia through the stomach. Rosetta kicked Sylvia off her sword, then twirled the blade around, waiting for Sylvia's next move. 

In complete honesty, the only reason Sylvia hadn't died a long time ago was because Rosetta found fighting her fun. Rosetta didn't kill her during any of her numerous opportunities. The only time Rosetta had almost killed Sylvia was during their first meeting. 

When Rosetta had killed Sylvia's mother, Summer Rose. 

Rosetta blocked several bullets Sylvia fired, easily. She seemed mildly surprised when Sylvia rushed her, stabbing straight for the other woman. Rosetta dodged aside, slashing a few times Sylvia. Sylvia managed to block, but a cut appeared across her right hand, where the blade had grazed her. Blood began dribbling out slowly, and Sylvia entered a more defensive stance again. 

_That sword is sharp._ Rosetta had once referred to it as 'the Godslayer'. Sylvia didn't know how accurate the term was, but she was reasonably certain that it had lived up to its name in at least one point of the sword's long history. Of _Rosetta's_ long history. Neither of the two present, trading blows with each other, knew exactly how old Rosetta was. What Sylvia did know was that Rosetta predated most of the cities she'd been too--and, perhaps, a planet or two. The woman before her was ancient. Ancient enough to expertly parry Sylvia's next attack and land a hit along her shoulder. 

But her age didn't mean she was unbeatable--or even unhittable. Sylvia slashed open the woman's chest, and both jumped apart from each other. 

Rosetta, of course, instantly healed. Even her clothing--though, then again, Sylvia's clothing also repaired itself, for some unknown reason. As Sylvia lunged for Rosetta again, Rosetta threw her sword. Sylvia rolled past it, but instead of going for the now unarmed Rosetta, she turned to face the sword as it came back. The sword turned into a red mist, and shot back towards Rosetta. Sylvia knew, from experience, that Rosetta could turn it back into a sword so that it hit Sylvia in the back. But instead of doing that, the mist shot past Sylvia back to Rosetta. Sylvia, alarmed, spun and barely managed to block a blow from Rosetta. Rosetta attacked several more times, then, suddenly, stopped. 

Police officers, and some kind of attack droid, pointed guns at the two combatants. 

Rosetta looked around them, then said, "We'll continue this another time." She leapt back, slashing her sword through the air, and opening a portal. Sylvia barely managed to open a portal of her own before the police opened fire. Even so, a bullet pegged her in the back as she left that dimension. 

The next day, she rested against a bench. Her wounds were slowly healing, and she'd changed out of her blood-soaked clothes. The sun felt warm on her skin, and as time crawled by, she knew she should have been contented. She wasn't in that much pain, and the seating was rather comfortable. 

But Rosetta...Sylvia had to take on Rosetta. Just once, just to prove to herself she was strong enough. 

A shadow fell across her, from behind, and she opened one eye to see who it was. She'd met versions of this man before. Qrow Branwen. Her father. 

He looked her up and down, then proffered his thing of beer. "You look about as tired as I feel, and I've already had one today," he said. 

Accepting the beer with a nod of thanks, she took a sip. It was warm, and bitter, but it was enough. She sighed in contentment as she passed the container back to him. 

Qrow sat down. "You look like someone with a story," he said, opening conversation. 

"It's not a good story."

"Good and bad stories help pass the time," he drawled. A light, drunken slur. He'd definitely had more than one thing of beer today, she decided. 

"Well...I come from another world," Sylvia admitted. "Another Remnant, only it's not called Remnant there."

Qrow looked at her, questions on his face. 

"There are lots of dimensions out there," Sylvia told him with a patient smile. "To say that there are as many as the stars--" She made a sweeping gesture, encompassing the setting sun and the few stars that were out. "--would be an understatement. In my world..." She trailed off, unsure how to say the next part. 

"If I had to guess," Qrow drawled, "you're your world's version of Ruby Rose?"

Sylvia looked at him, then chuckled, closing her eyes. "You catch on quickly. But no. Ruby Rose is the daughter of Taiyang and Summer Rose. In my world, _you_ married Summer, and I'm their kid."

Qrow seemed to think about that for a minute. "What happened?"

"Rosetta," Sylvia said quietly. "Psychotic serial killer. Heartless, monstrous. While...my mother and I were traveling..." She shook her head, opening her eyes. "I told you it wasn't a happy story."

Qrow looked at her, pity in his eyes. "That's messed up."

"So's Rosetta," Sylvia said quietly. She rose, stretching, feeling her muscles and joints pop. She opened a portal, sensing where Rosetta's presence was. The immortal was nearby--a nearby world. Sylvia almost stepped through, then paused, looking back to Qrow. "Thank you."


End file.
